Monday, October 6, 2008

Day four

San Francisco - boat trip to Alcatraz Island.

We had to go and see it. And of course, the moment we stepped off the ferry, the battery in my camera died. How annoying! But since we flew over the island on our helicopter tour (see tomorrow for details) I managed to get some photos anyway.
The old prison is quite spooky. It's very cold and dark and although they have turned some of the cells into modern-day versions of what they think it looked like, some of them are still in original condition and there is no way I would have wanted to be there!
Apparently the one good thing about Alcatraz was the food. The prisoners were fed very well. My theory is that they fed them well to keep them warm, given the prison was solid rock and would have been freezing in the winter.
That tower was the water tower for the island. They had no connection to the mainland for water, power, sewerage or anything. That dirt area in front of the tower was the prisoner's exercise yard. Not very inspiring.

1 comment:

Annie Jeffries said...

Hello Tracey,

Thank you for leaving a comment at my blog. I think it is a first from you. I'm exploring your blogs and noticed this post on Alcaatraz. I visited there about 12 years ago and still remember it like it was yesterday. What an amazing experience. Your photos from the helicopter are spectacular.

Annie